By Mata Press Service

Naw Htwee Kha, 17, was shot with a 9-millimetre pistol by a drunken Lt. Col. Aung Kyaw Soe at her village after she refused to sleep with him.

Thirty-eight-year-old Naw May was brutally raped by soldiers of the 101 Infantry Battalion, who then killed her and cut off her ears to get her earrings.

Naw Mu Thoo, 33-year-old woman suffered three miscarriages after being forced to carry heavy loads for Burma’s soldiers.

These three Karen women are among thousands who are being subjected to brutal rapes, torture, murder and forced labour for the Burmese army as part of its ongoing offensive against the ethnic minority group, according to a recent report.

The report by the activist Karen Women’s Organisation cites in often gruesome detail the cases of 959 women and girls in Karen State, from 1981 until 2006. Thousands of other lesser cases of abuse involving women are also noted.

The ethnic Karen people have waged a protracted war for autonomy since Burma, now known as Myanmar, became independent in 1948.

The repressive regime in Burma has forced tens of thousands of Karens top fleed to to squalid camps in Thailand’s western jungle along the porous border.

The majority of the refugees fled to Thailand in 1995 following a major offensive by the Burmese government army against the Karen National Union (KNU).

There are currently 140,000 refugees from Myanmar living in nine border camps in Thailand, many of them have been there for up to 20 years.

One of those places is the remote Mae La Oon refugee camp in Thailand.

Canadian officials this month began interviewing Karen refugees at this camp and the Mae Ra Ma Luang camp about 10km away with the goal of bringing approximately 2,000 more to Canada for resettlement.

There are an estimated 10,000 refugees in each camp. “Canada’s New Government is pleased to open our doors to an additional

2,000 Karen refugees, who have been living under terrible conditions for many years,” said Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

“We look forward to helping them rebuild their lives in a safe, welcoming environment. It is part of our long-standing tradition of providing protection for refugees.”

In 2006, Canada accepted a first group of 810 Karen for resettlement.

For many of the Karens who have come to Canada after living for many years in a remote jungle refugee camp, adjusting to life in Canada is challenging.

Coming with very few belongings, there is no doubt they are very grateful to be in Canada, but they also face a fairly lengthy period of adjustment. Upon arrival, the refugees were found to be suffering from extreme fatigue and dehydration.

A major challenge has been their difficulty in communicating since few of the Karens speak basic English. Although they have been attending orientation workshops and are cooperative, they are neither accustomed to the classroom setting nor in retaining or comprehending orientation information. After spending so many years in a refugee camp, their priority was surviving day to day. Using practical means and hands-on exercises to convey information is proving to be very helpful.

Once the refugees move out to their own accommodation, they will need to learn about the safe use of appliances as well as fire and building safety.

Learning about proper sanitation is also important.

Many of them find the transportation system overwhelming so getting around using public transportation has presented its own set of challenges.

But the resettlement issues are nothing compared to the “hell” they left.

Burma’s ruling junta, has consistently dismissed reports of widespread sexual assaults against women from ethnic groups which sparked an international outcry.

“Rape has been and continues to be used as a method of torture to intimidate and humiliate the civilian population, particularly in the ethnic states. Women and children are subjected to forced labour and are displaced from their homes,” says the recent “State of Terror” report by the Karen Women’s Organisation.

According to the report, women were frequently gang raped, sometimes killed afterward, and in every case the assailants - both soldiers and officers - escaped punishment.

Some of the assaults are directed against families believed to be supporting rebels of the Karen National Union who have for decades been fighting for autonomy from the central government. A major offensive against the insurgents began in late 2005 and is continuing.

The Thailand Burma Border Consortium, the main aid agency caring for tens of thousands of refugees along the Thai-Burma frontier, estimates that in 2006 alone the violence forced 82,000 people to leave their homes.

Since 1996, more than 3,000 villages have been destroyed or abandoned in eastern Burma and more than 1 million people displaced, according to its most recent report. Major uprooting and abuses have also occurred in other ethnic minority areas such as Shan State.

Large numbers of Karen women - some of them pregnant or carrying their newborn babies - are also forced to work as porters and labourers for the Burma army, which has been expanding its camps and other installations in Karen State, located in eastern Burma.

The report called on Burma’s government to stop all forms of sexual violence and other abuses and urged the UN Security Council to pass a binding resolution which demands the junta implement a nationwide ceasefire and withdraw its troops from ethnic minority areas.

But similar calls in the past have led to little or no action.

“There isn’t a government in Asia or Europe that could honestly claim they have done all they could to prevent these abuses,” Mark Farmaner, of The Burma Campaign UK lobbying group.

“Every day more women are raped, forced into slave labour, tortured and killed, yet the United Nations and most governments have no sense of urgency that something needs to be done.”